Biography
Dr. Liz Lawrence is a graduate of Yale College and Stanford University School of Medicine. She has lived and worked in NM since 1995 when she moved here to begin her 3-year Internal Medicine Residency. She currently practices general internal medicine at UNM SOM, where she is also the Chief Wellness Officer and Assistant Dean for Professional Wellbeing.
Personal Statement
I am a general internist because I cherish the long-term relationships I build with my patients from age 16 to 103. I am surprised, touched, and inspired by my patients and colleagues every time I am in clinic.
My area of academic interest has been on clinician well-being since 2013. At that time, I was in private practice caring for a large number of physician-patients, and I was disheartened to see the toll clinical work took on these doctors. I believe that we need to change the culture of medicine to one in which clinicians can thrive and experience joy in their practice. This change will only come about when we build a healthcare system that puts primacy on patient welfare and not on productivity and paperwork.
Please learn more about the team in the Office of Professional Well-being and about the work we are doing at https://hsc.unm.edu/medicine/about/well-being/
Areas of Specialty
Clinician well-being
How people learn to be doctors (medical education)
Medical ethics and professionalism
Narrative medicine
Certifications
American Board of Internal Medicine (#187529), 1999 - 2021 Participating in Maintenance of Certification
Achievements & Awards
Fellow, American College of Physicians - 2006 to Present
Recognition for Teaching Excellence. Learning Environment Office, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM. 2020
Distinguished Teacher/Mentor of the Year. New Mexico Chapter, American College of Physicians (ACP) 2017
Gender
Female
Languages
- English
Courses Taught
Co-course director - CoVid-19 in 2020 (April and May 2020)
Co-course director, small group facilitator - Healer's Art Curriculum - 2016--present
Co-director Wellness curriculum, WISE (Wellness, Integration, STEP and Education) weeks, Phase 1 curriculum/ 2019-2020
Director, Annual UNM Taos Writing and Wellness Retreat for Health Care Professionals. Director since 2018, facilitator since 2015.
Research and Scholarship
Lawrence E, Carvour M, Andiarsio E, and Rabow M. Requiring the Healer?s Art Curriculum to Promote Professional Identity Formation Among Medical Students. Journal of Medical Humanities. 2020 December. DOI: 10.1007/s10912-020-09649-z. [Epub ahead of print]
Barrett E, Lawrence E, Waldman D, and Brislen H. Improving How State Medical Boards Ask Physicians About Mental Health Diagnoses: A Case Study From New Mexico. Ann Intern Med. 2020 Mar 24. DOI: 10.7326/M19-3681. [Epub ahead of print]
Fletcher I, Castle M, Scarpa A, Myers O, Lawrence E. An exploration of medical student attitudes towards disclosure of mental illness. 2020. Medical Education Online, 25:1, 1727713, DOI: 10.1080/10872981.2020.1727713
Olson K, Marchalik D, Farley H, Dean SM, Lawrence EC, Hamidi MS, Stewart MT. Organizational Strategies to Reduce Physician Burnout and Improve Professional Fulfillment. Curr Probl Pediatr Adolesc Health Care. 2019 Dec;49(12): Epub 2019 Oct 4.
Lawrence E. On Being a Doctor: A Wounded Healer. Ann Intern Med. 2014;161(8):611-612.